Organisational Change: 7 Proven Steps to Bring People With You

There’s a truth that often gets overlooked in organisational life: firms don’t change because a strategy document says so — they change because their people do.

This is especially true in professional services firms, where change can feel particularly tough. Firmwide change often requires painstaking consensus-building within partnerships — a process that is time-consuming, relationally taxing, and exhausting. It’s little wonder that achieving real change can be so difficult.

The good news is that evidence points to what actually works. Here are seven practices proven to make change stick.

1. Diagnose Before You Prescribe

Jumping into action without proper diagnosis almost always backfires. Effective change begins by asking: What problem are we really trying to solve? What barriers might we encounter? And critically: Are people ready and equipped to change at a personal level? Are leaders prepared to manage and lead through it?
A thorough diagnosis ensures the effort is relevant, realistic, and grounded in research, while surfacing obstacles before they derail progress.

2. Equip Leaders at Every Level

Change rises or falls on the strength of leadership. Partners and managers need more than a briefing on “what” is changing — they need the skills to navigate uncertainty, model adaptability, and support their people through the inevitable dips in energy and resistance. Leadership development in change is not a nice-to-have; it is foundational.

3. Craft and Share a Compelling Vision

People need to understand where they’re headed and why it matters. A strong vision links the change to the firm’s broader strategy and, when co-created with stakeholders, inspires ownership. Once defined, it must be reinforced consistently in conversations, town halls, emails, and informal interactions.

4. Involve People and Build Fairness

Change takes root when people feel involved and respected. Genuine opportunities for staff to contribute, space for input, and transparency in how decisions are made all build trust and commitment. Leaders who see their teams as partners in the process, not obstacles to manage, will have far greater success.

5. Experiment and Start Small

Pilots, taskforces, and small experiments allow new approaches to be tested in safe, low-stakes ways. Early wins build confidence, surface challenges early, and create momentum. Involving “early testers” also increases advocacy for the change within the wider firm.

6. Evaluate and Adjust

Change is not a one-off event but an evolving process. Tracking progress, gathering feedback, and celebrating milestones reinforce that the initiative is dynamic, responsive, and worth continued investment.

7. Make It Part of the Culture

For change to last, it must become part of the firm’s DNA: embedded in systems, policies, processes, and behaviours. Without institutionalisation, even the best initiatives risk slipping back into old habits or rewarding counterproductive behaviours.

Watch Out for the Silent Killers

As Michael Beer’s research highlights, even well-designed initiatives will stumble if these common pitfalls aren’t addressed:

• Leading change in a top-down or overly hands-off way which undermines engagement

• Unclear strategies or competing priorities that confuse people

• Dysfunctional senior leadership or partnership lacking alignment and trust

• Blocked upward or downward communication that leaves people in the dark

• Siloed practice groups hindering collaboration

• Neglecting leadership development, leaving leaders unprepared for the task.  

The Bottom Line

Leading change in professional services firms is complex, but not impossible. Success depends on focusing as much on the human side of change as on the technical or strategic. When leaders listen, involve people, and model adaptability, they create the conditions for real and lasting change.

So next time you’re planning a change, whether it’s new technology, a client service model, or rethinking how teams collaborate, remember: the strategy may set the direction, but it’s your people who will either choose to change, or not.